


Thankful

by callboxkat



Series: Sanders Sides College AU [9]
Category: Sanders Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21596407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callboxkat/pseuds/callboxkat
Summary: Thanksgiving is coming up, and Virgil’s dad is coming to visit. He doesn’t want his dad to come to his own run-down apartment, so he turns to his friend Logan for help.
Relationships: Analogical - Relationship, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Platonic Analogical, Platonic LAMP
Series: Sanders Sides College AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1020189
Comments: 23
Kudos: 86





	Thankful

**Author's Note:**

> Does anybody still remember my college au? Because here’s some college au. This story can stand alone without the rest of that au, although it is canon to that universe. 
> 
> Look at me keeping up the adjective titles.

_November 2018_

“You got the popcorn, Pat?” a voice called from the other room.

“You bet!”

Logan stepped to the side as Patton barreled past with a large bowl of popcorn, nearly running into him in the process. He shook his head in fond exasperation and followed after.

He and his friends were at their weekly movie night, which as usual was held at their friend Roman’s house. Roman had a decent television, a large selection of movies, and was the only one with enough space for all seven college students to comfortably hang out and watch movies together. They were planning on watching two movies that night, determined by a vote. On nights when they weren’t all there, they would just discuss which movies to watch, but when all of them got together, it was a lot faster just to pick out some movies and vote on which to watch. Patton was counting the votes right because Roman and Joan had each tried to rig the votes in the past. Logan also wouldn’t put it past Remy to do something like that. Among all of them, Patton was the most trusted not to lie about the results. Logan was 99% sure he wouldn’t use that to his advantage.

Soon enough, all seven of them (Logan, Roman, Patton, Virgil, Remy, Joan, and Talyn) were all lounging around the living room while the first movie, _Wreck it Ralph_ , began to play. Logan sat on the sofa along with Patton and Virgil; Roman was on the floor on a throne of pillows and blankets; Joan and Talyn shared the larger of the two chairs; and Remy sat in the other.

They passed around the bowl of popcorn as the movie played, getting comfortable and occasionally making comments on the film.

About halfway through, Logan felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Figuring it might be important, he retrieved it, only to see that the text was from Virgil, who was perched on the armrest of the very same sofa, just on the other side of Patton. (He sat there not because there wasn’t room on the sofa for him, but simply because he claimed he liked the arm better).

Logan frowned, confused, and opened the message.

 **Virgil** : Can I ask you something weird?

Logan stared at the text, wondering why Virgil would send this and not just ask him out loud. And why in the middle of the movie? Perhaps this was one of those occasions where he either could not or preferred not to speak out loud; or perhaps he didn’t want their other friends to overhear his question either out of embarrassment, or perhaps he simply didn’t want to interrupt the film. All three scenarios were likely, and Logan was unsure which, if not a combination of the three, might be the case. The darkly dressed sophomore was bent slightly over his phone, sitting with a poor posture that made Logan cringe internally but which was not exactly unusual for him. His body language was hard for Logan to read, but it was entirely possibly that this was simply due to Logan himself not being especially talented at that sort of thing.

 _I suppose that depends on how ‘weird’ your inquiry is_ , Logan typed. He very nearly hit the “send” button before realizing that, if he sent that text, Virgil would definitely not ask him whatever he had wanted to ask. So, Logan deleted that and sent a much simpler response in its place.

 **Logan** : Yes.

Despite Logan’s direct, encouraging response, several minutes went by without a response. Logan returned his attention to the movie, thinking that perhaps Virgil had changed his mind. But eventually, a reply came.

 **Virgil** : Do you do Thanksgiving?

Logan briefly thought back to the last time his family had attempted such a get-together, several years previously. It hadn’t exactly gone well.

 **Logan** : Not generally, no. Is this the “weird” inquiry you referred to?

 **Virgil** : So not this year?

Logan glanced over at the sophomore, who was still resolutely looking at his phone.

 **Logan** : I hadn’t planned on doing anything except study.

 **Virgil** : You’re not going to Patton’s?

 **Logan** : No, why would I go to Patton’s?

 **Virgil** : …Bc you spent Christmas there last year?

 **Logan** : I see your point. I actually spent the past two Christmases with his family. I do not do the same for Thanksgiving, however. His family is rather large and close and I am not overly comfortable with that sort of thing.

Plus, if one of Patton’s relatives were to ask if the two of them were dating, that would make things _very_ awkward _very_ fast.

“Loogannnnn,” Roman moaned at that moment, flopping his head back on the sofa and pouting up at him. Despite being the oldest, Roman sometimes acted like the youngest among them. “Your phone is too bright, it’s ruining the atmosphere! How will we ever properly enjoy this cinematic masterpiece like this?” He gestured forlornly around the room, which Logan supposed might have been slightly more illuminated than Roman generally preferred for their movie nights; but he didn’t think it was enough of a disturbance to truly upset him.

“Virgil is also on his phone,” Logan pointed out mildly. His phone buzzed almost immediately.

 **Virgil** : Traitor

“Yeah, but he’s _always_ on his phone. And his brightness is all the way down!”

Logan’s phone brightness was barely above the lowest setting, but he simply shook his head and lowered it the rest of the way. It wasn’t worth the argument.

“Thank you,” Roman sighed. Joan threw a piece of popcorn at him, and they snorted at the betrayed look he shot them.

Logan looked back to his phone, which showed a notification that Virgil was currently typing. The notification kept disappearing and reappearing, as if to show how indecisive Virgil was about whatever he was trying to say. Finally, another message came up, this one much longer.

 **Virgil** : So this is stupid, like really stupid, but I wanted to ask if maybe me and my dad could come over for thanksgiving. He wants to come see me and eat dinner together and stuff but I don’t want him to go to my apartment. I figured yours is probably clean and you’re the only one without plans. And this is so dumb but I was hoping maybe you’d pretend to be my roommate and we could eat there? You can say no obviously.

Logan read the long-winded message twice, then glanced over at Virgil. He was slowly sinking into himself, but in a subtle way that almost looked like he was just getting comfortable; so no one else had noticed.

Logan thought for a moment, then typed out a reply.

 **Logan** : To be clear, I am not refusing, but why not bring him to your own apartment? Is something wrong with it? Are you and Remy not getting along?

Virgil let out a long breath, slowly untensing. Patton, who was sitting next to him, glanced over at him and whispered something. Whatever he said made Virgil crack a smile, and then Patton went back to watching the movie.

Logan waited, wondering what might have spurred Virgil to make this request. He had never personally visited Virgil’s apartment, so he didn’t know what the issue might be. To his knowledge, the only ones in their friend group who had seen it were Virgil himself, his roommate Remy, and, on one occasion, Roman. Roman hadn’t mentioned anything unusual about the place, though. As for Remy…. Logan glanced over at the other chair, where the young man in question was lounging, catlike, his sunglasses pushed up onto his forehead and a drink in hand as he watched the movie. He hadn’t been acting at all unusual lately, as far as he could tell, and Logan was unsure why he would have agreed to have this movie night with someone with whom he was fighting, let alone to carpool there.

His phone buzzed again.

 **Virgil** : No, everything’s fine with Remy. He’s going to see family, he won’t even be home

 **Virgil** : Plus my apartments a mess

Logan waited for any further explanation, but none came. He started typing again.

 **Logan** : Why not go see your father where he lives, rather than him coming here?

 **Virgil** : He already made the plans and I don’t want to make him change them

 **Virgil** : Please? You’ll get food out of it

Logan considered. It wouldn’t be the worst thing, he supposed, to have company. He didn’t know Virgil’s father, but he hadn’t heard anything bad about him. And Virgil himself was one of his closest friends. Plus, Logan didn’t want to be the reason that Virgil’s Thanksgiving was ruined. He wasn’t close with his own family, and he hadn’t been in years, but he recognized that familial ties were important to other people. Whatever Virgil’s reasoning for not wanting to let his dad see his apartment, Logan supposed it didn’t matter. He could help his friend.

 **Logan** : Tentatively, I agree. I would like to discuss this further, though, beforehand.

 **Virgil** : Thank you thank you thank you

…

“So, how were you hoping to go about this?” Logan asked, leaning against the counter. The two of them were standing in Roman’s kitchen, talking in low tones while the others put the living room back to how it had been before they took it over.

“I don’t know,” Virgil mumbled, pouring himself a glass of tea. “I just—I was hoping I could, like, bring him over to your apartment and we could just eat there. And you could say you’re my roommate and stuff. I’m sorry, it’s stupid.”

“It is odd, I’ll admit, but I wouldn’t call it stupid. However, is deception really necessary?” Logan tilted his had slightly. “Could you not simply tell your father you don’t want to eat at your own apartment?”

Virgil took a conspicuously long sip of his tea, not looking at him.

Logan supposed that that would have to serve as his answer. He straightened his tie. “Alright, so telling the truth is not an option, then. I suppose I don’t object to your plan, provided it doesn’t cause anyone harm. We could prepare the meal in my kitchen, and eat there. Although I am unsure how convinced your father will be that we share an apartment.” Logan’s apartment was very, well, Logan.

Virgil shrugged, looking troubled. No doubt the thought had occurred to him as well.

“Perhaps you could come over on Wednesday,” Logan suggested. “We could put some of your things in my apartment, to help sell the idea that you live there.”

“You’d do that?” Virgil looked surprised.

“Why not? It doesn’t cause me any inconvenience.”

“I’m uprooting your whole week,” Virgil deadpanned. “How is that not inconvenient?”

“Two days is hardly a whole week,” Logan said, waving him off. “Besides, we have the time off, anyway.”

“Hey, lazy butts!” called a voice from the other room. “Come help!”

“Yes, of course,” Logan called back. “Apologies, we were simply discussing something.” He started off towards the others, glancing back at Virgil. “Wednesday, then? Perhaps you could come over around six.”

Virgil nodded, and Logan went to help clean up.

…

Virgil drove to Logan’s apartment complex, swearing under his breath the entire way. Not even the My Chemical Romance CD he had in the player could soothe his troubled thoughts.

This idea was so dumb. It was _so_ dumb. Taking over his friend’s apartment for Thanksgiving just so his dad wouldn’t find out he lived in a run-down dump? Making Logan pretend he was his roommate? Ruining his friend’s day out of his own selfishness? This was so stupid. And rude. He was a bad friend.

And yet, for some reason, Logan had agreed. Why? Virgil didn’t understand it. Logan didn’t owe him anything. They were friends, yes, and had been through quite a lot in the year or so that they had known each other, but Virgil’s request was still a lot. So why was Logan going along with it? It just didn’t make sense. It was like something out of a bad fan fiction.

Except a fan fiction would probably have them end up getting together. Virgil made a face at the thought. He liked Logan, yeah, but as a friend and only as a friend. And he was very sure that Logan felt the same way.

Anyway, whatever his friend’s motivation for agreeing to Virgil’s ridiculous plan, Virgil soon found himself making his way up to Logan’s apartment with a heavy cardboard box in his arms.

Rather than setting the box down to knock or ring the doorbell, Virgil just rammed his knee into the door a couple of times. It did the job.

Sure enough, Logan opened the door a moment later. “Ah, Virgil,” he said, stepping aside to let him in.

“Hi,” he said awkwardly, stepping inside but not moving past the threshold.

“What did you bring?” Logan asked, closing the door behind him.

“A couple posters… favorite mug… random sh*t.”

“Is there only the one box? Or are there more in the car?”

Virgil felt his face go slightly pink. “Just the one.” He’d brought about half of his decorations (he didn’t have a lot) as well as a few other things.

“Well, that makes things easy,” Logan said with a smile. “Come on in; that box looks heavy.”

It was, but not ridiculously so. Even still, Virgil was happy to set it down on Logan’s coffee table.

Putting up Virgil’s decorations didn’t take too long. They put up the posters in the sitting room, in empty places on the walls where they fit in as well as any of Virgil’s belongings would in this apartment. They added Virgil’s favorite mug and bowl to the collection in the cabinets, put his figurines on the shelves, and put his cat-face-shaped pillow on one of the chairs.

“I think that’s it,” Virgil said, peering into the cardboard box once more to check. “You’re sure you’re good with this?”

“I am sure,” Logan confirmed, nodding once. “Besides, it seems a little late to change plans, even if I had for some reason changed my mind.”

“Right,” Virgil said.

“I’m okay with this, Virgil,” Logan assured him. “It’s only one day.”

Virgil nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

“No problem. I’ll expect you tomorrow.”

…

The doorbell rang, the sound echoing through the apartment. Logan put his textbook to the side, got to his feet, and walked over to the door. When he pulled it open, Virgil stood there, looking sheepish; and behind him was a middle-aged man, smiling and holding a few bags of groceries.

“Hello,” Logan said, stepping aside to let them in.

“Forgot my keys,” Virgil mumbled, clearly his way of explaining why he’d had to knock on “his” apartment door to be let in.

“Hello,” said the man who must have been Virgil’s father, sticking out a hand. “I’m John, Virgil’s dad.”

“Logan,” he introduced himself politely, taking the man’s hand.

John’s expression grew confused. “Logan?” He looked towards his son, who made a small choking noise. “I thought your roommate’s name was Remy?”

“That’s our other roommate,” Logan said quickly. “He’s not home.”

“Oh,” he said. “Virgil, you never told me you had two roommates.”

Virgil shrugged, scuffing the toe of his shoe nervously on the floor. Apparently that sort of body language wasn’t too out of the ordinary, since his dad just set the grocery bags on the counter.

“Well, would the two of you like to help me cook? I picked up a few things on the way here. Nothing fancy, but it should make for a good meal.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth, and Logan realized he was about to make an excuse for him not helping.

“I’d love to,” he said before his friend could do so. Technically, they were guests in his apartment, even if one of them didn’t realize it. It would be rude to not help prepare the meal, wouldn’t it?

…

“I think we should all go around and say what we’re thankful for. What do you two say?”

Logan, who had been carefully filling his glass with his favorite cinnamon tea, looked up. Across the table, Virgil’s dad was watching them both with a smile.

Virgil slowly nodded, then glanced at Logan. His expression said, _please?_

“That sounds like a fitting course of action,” Logan said, setting down the pitcher of tea. Sharing what one was thankful for was the sort of thing families did in movies on Thanksgiving. He’d never done it before, but he assumed he could figure it out quite easily.

Virgil’s father, John, gave him a curious look when he spoke—he did whenever Logan did, like he was trying to figure him out. Logan paid it no mind. Most people did that sort of thing when they first met him. Patton’s parents had done the same thing, the first time he joined them for Christmas.

“I’ll go first,” John said. He looked at Virgil. “I think you know what I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for my wonderful, smart, kind, compassionate son, who is perfect just as God made him. I’m thankful for my job, for this meal, for the health and happiness of my family, and for this life that I’ve been able to live.”

Virgil had gone as red as a tomato. He poked at his plate with a fork, mumbling something along the lines of “How am I supposed to respond to that?”

“Virgil?” his dad prompted, clearly amused at his son’s flustered appearance.

“You,” Virgil grumbled. His eyes darted towards Logan. “My friends.” He kept poking at his plate, addressing the mashed potatoes. “My job. Music. Spiders, except when they scare Patton.”

Logan nodded sagely. Patton could be quite the arachnophobe.

“What about you, Logan? Care to share?”

It was Logan’s turn to hesitate. “I am also thankful for my friends,” he said slowly. “And my health.” After complications from a seriously injury earlier in the year, Logan could say with certainty that he no longer took that for granted. “And for… occasions like this.”

No one made him elaborate. They returned to their meal. They talked, Virgil’s dad asking them both about school, how it was going, what Logan studied, what they were looking forward to in the school year. John talked a little about his job, or at least, about his colleagues at that job. The food that they ate as they talked had clearly been chosen with a budget in mind, but it was quite delicious.

Logan had had very few real family dinners in his life. Logan was glad that he had been able to make this one happen for his friend, even if it did involve some false pretenses. He didn’t know why Virgil didn’t want to let his father see his own apartment, or why Virgil was only seeing his father for the holiday. Perhaps later, Logan could figure out those reasons, and help Virgil remedy whatever the problem was so that he no longer felt the need to lie to his family. But for now, he decided to simply enjoy this meal. Logan could tell that getting to see his dad and sharing the evening with him meant the world to Virgil. And that fact made Logan smile.


End file.
